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NAVIGATING SHORTAGES:  R.I. environmental police officer Jacob Malone, left, checks the size of striped bass caught by two unidentified fishermen in Narragansett Bay. The R.I. Department of Environmental Management says staff shortages have made it difficult to schedule such law enforcement operations.  PBN PHOTO/ DAVID HANSEN

HELP WANTED: There are 1,700 unfilled state jobs, but has anyone...

Print Featured 05/26/2023

Stacy Smith says the job for “front-line” workers at the R.I. Department of Human Services isn’t easy in normal times, but the labor market...

SEEING THE LIGHT: Ian Prichett, CEO and president of Lumetta Inc., stands on the floor of the Warwick lighting manufacturer with some of its designs hanging overhead. He says technologies and product designs evolve quickly in the lighting world, so he’s constantly spending time on the floor and learning from each department. PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Prichett continuing his father’s illuminating work at Lumetta

Print Featured 05/26/2023

(Editor’s note: This is the ninth installment in a monthly series highlighting some of the region’s unsung manufacturers that make products essential to the...

Is iGaming worth gambling on?

Print Featured 05/26/2023

Supporters of expanding casino gambling to online table games in Rhode Island are hoping they hold the necessary cards of persuasion to get iGaming...

Neil D. Steinberg  PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

UNFINISHED BUSINESS: He helped raise and give out $693M, but outgoing...

Print Featured 05/12/2023

Neil D. Steinberg has never worked as hard as he has over the last 15 years. But he has also enjoyed every moment of...

WAITING GAME: Jeffrey Cascione, senior vice president in charge of commercial lending at Navigant Credit Union, is eagerly awaiting the details of the U.S. Small Business Administration opening its flagship loan programs to financial technology companies. PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

New SBA loan rules spark debate among politicians, lenders

Print Featured 05/12/2023

Impending changes at the U.S. Small Business Administration are stirring up whirlwinds of controversy – in Rhode Island and in Washington, D.C. – as...

McKee, Neronha dispute allows inside look at budget process

Print Featured 05/12/2023

A testy dispute between Gov. Daniel J. McKee and Attorney General Peter F. Neronha has spilled into the open in recent months, but some...

OPEN SPACE:  Meliza Urquhart, community manager at Paragon Mill in Providence, shows one of the new units offered at “workforce” rates for people who earn between 80% and 120% of the area’s median income. Demand in that slice of the housing market is far beyond the supply.  PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

MAKING ROOM In the MIDDLE: R.I. struggles to create workforce housing,...

Print Featured 04/28/2023

For nursing assistant Johnbray Brown, moving into a workforce-rate unit in the renovated Paragon Mill in Providence’s Olneyville neighborhood was a hard-won victory spanning...

CLOSER LOOK: Creative Conners Inc. owner and CEO Gareth Conners, right, inspects a piece of equipment with automation technician Stephen “Bo” Bogev at the manufacturer’s Warren facility. PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

Creative Conners’ products keep stages moving for small theaters, productions

Print Featured 04/28/2023

(Editor’s note: This is the eighth installment in a monthly series highlighting some of the region’s unsung manufacturers that make products essential to the...